The Role of Accreditation in Supporting Educational Quality During Difficult Circumstances

Abstract

Accreditation aims to ensure that generally-accepted standards of educational program quality are being met. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the accrediting body for medical education programs leading to the MD degree, has a process to address circumstances at medical schools arising from acute emergency situations. This involves consultation with faculty and administration at the affected school and collection of data related to compliance with accreditation standards through written reports and on-site visits. The actions of both the medical schools in New Orleans and the LCME following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 illustrate this process. While the need to respond to requests for information from an accrediting body places additional burdens on a medical school's faculty and administration during an emergency, such oversight also ensures that the medical education program continues to meet standards. This provides assurance of educational quality to school personnel and students, as well as to the school's publics. Accreditation agencies should consider how their standards and processes support a timely and flexible response to disaster situations that occur at accredited schools.

Sharing stories about medical education in difficult circumstances: Conceptualizing issues, strategies, and solutions

“…Artemiou & Adams 2017;Cartwright et al 2017;Mack et al 2017) and focusing on addressing system faults and wastage, rather than blaming individuals. In countries with accrediting bodies, Barzansky and Hash (2017) remind us of the support such bodies can offer in times of development or crisis.…”

Concluding commentary: Medical Education in Difficult Circumstances

“…In the first, Barzansky and Hash (2017) describe how, during Hurricane Katrina (August 2005), the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the accrediting body of US MD programmes, has in-built support mechanisms to ensure maintenance of medical education standards (e.g. student and faculty well-being) for colleges in crisis, either because of unanticipated emergencies such as natural disasters or ongoing difficult circumstances such as difficulty in recruiting and retaining faculty.…”

“…Four submissions dealt with the challenges of low-resource settings (Artemiou & Adams, 2017;Mack et al, 2017;Tibyampansha et al, 2017;Morikawa, 2017) while, in a similar vein, Cartwright and colleagues' (2017) submission offered twelve tips for adapting the curriculum in times of economic austerity. One submission addressed the bedside as a 'difficult' learning environment (Biswas & Tzadok, 2017) while two papers dealt with providing medical education in adverse weather events (Niedl et al, 2017;Barzansky & Hash, 2017).…”